Good morning!
Green Mountain Concert Services got its start by doing security gigs at Grateful Dead concerts in the 1990s. Today the company is contracted by colleges and universities throughout New England, including UMass where GMCS security officers greet fans coming into the Mullins Center.

For season ticket holders and other regulars, the Groundhog Day experience involves walking through a metal detector with hats off and arms overhead holding cell phones and car keys aloft. They guide you through like you’re entering a car wash, and ask if they can reach into your pockets. They look into purses and peer into hoodies and try to justify their job by saying, “We just want people to be safe.”

Who knew that family entertainment could be so dangerous? You can get across the Mexican border faster than you can get into a hockey game.

Neither familiarity nor age matters, everyone from the Beaver to Granny gets the once over.

Missie Kennedy became hooked on the game from playing floor hockey in the Special Olympics. “She’s played soccer and track & field but hockey’s always been her favorite,” said her father Terry Kennedy. “If my wife accused me of undo influence, I would plead the Fifth.”

During the 2019 Stanley Cup finals, Missie was chosen to wave the flag on the ice at TD Garden with Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson. “Orr couldn’t have been nicer, genuine for the million times he’s asked to be the center of attention.”

Kennedy always gets frisked by the faux cops because the metal in his surgically repaired knee sets off the bells and whistles. He grew up near Worcester, played hockey for coach Jack Riley at West Point, and fought “in the paddies” for Uncle Sam in Vietnam.

He dotes on Missie and buys her ice cream between periods. At their home in Amherst, she writes messages like “Let’s go Ufko!” and packs the sign in her UMass hockey bag together with pom poms, game sheets, and most recently her Santa hat.

Earlier this season, Green Mountain security told her the bag was too big to bring in the building. “They let her in with a warning and told her to get a smaller bag, which she did,” said Kennedy.

It didn’t matter. On Friday she was again told the bag was too big. “We told [the guard] we’d done what they’d asked, so she went to the head [guard] who said we couldn’t bring it in. We took it back to the car. My handicapped parking pass had expired so it was a hike, and by the time we got back the game had started.”

No one at Green Mountain headquarters answered the phone or responded to an email asking for comment.

Maybe it’s time to cut costs and leave security to the UMass police.

Bertagna defends Stone

Former Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna is the recipient of this year’s Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to ice hockey in the United States. During a recent CHN Insiders podcast with Adam Wodon and Mike McMahon, Bertagna defended Katey Stone who was forced to resign as the Harvard women’s hockey coach after the Boston Globe accused her of bullying and harassing her players.

“Katie’s not perfect, none of us are,” said Bertagna. “Some of the things that came out were probably true, but I do know for a fact that some weren’t, and I know for a fact it didn’t warrant being above the fold of the Boston Sunday Globe.

“One of the athletes in question is the stepdaughter of [Red Sox chairman] Tom Werner, and it’s a short walk from Tom Werner to [owner] John Henry’s office and the front page of the Boston Globe. I don’t think she deserved to go out like that.”

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SPIEGEL HELPS RAVENS – Northfield native Pierre Spiegel helped Franklin Pierce University of Rindge, N.H., win its second straight D-II men’s soccer championship last week in Matthews, N.C, where the Ravens blanked Colorado State University-Pueblo, 4-0.

Spiegel went to Northfield Elementary School while his parents were at NMH and honed his soccer skills at Amherst Regional High School and at the New England Revolution Academy.

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SQUIBBERS: The UMass hockey team is still No. 11 in the latest USCHO.com poll after its two-game sweep against Alaska Anchorage. The Minutemen are 11-4-1 at the Christmas break compared to 7-6-3 last season. UMass will play Cornell and then either Arizona State or Clarkson at Lake Placid on New Year's weekend then return home for a Hockey East tilt against UConn on Jan. 5. Tickets are $8 at the box office. … The Yankees picked up southpaw Victor Gonzalez from the Dodgers this week for infielder Trey Sweeney, a first round pick out of Eastern Illinois, Tony Romo’s alma mater. … After suffering their lowest average attendance (30,866) since Oracle Park opened in 2000, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale predicts the Giants will sign free agents Cody Belanger and Blake Snell. … Meanwhile it’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto or bust for the Red Sox with a starting staff composed of Chris Sale, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck that was a combined 30-34 last season. …  The Vegas sports books list Boston’s over/under win total at 82.5 which would translate to another last place finish in the AL East. … Amherst College assistant hockey coaches Cam MacDonald and Matt Lindsay have helped the Mammoths win four of their last five games to boost coach Jack Arena’s all-time total to 513 wins, fourth all-time in D-III.  … Retired railroad magnate Rob Charboneau took the family to see the Bruins play the Rangers last month. Tickets cost $300 each, peanuts for the Henry Flagler of Greenfield.  … More than a dozen NCAA players are competing in the Five Nations Cup in Sweden, including Williams College blue liner Celine Mayer who’s playing for Germany, says the Ephs SID Dick Quinn … Chris Simms on his late growth spurt: “I was the last to get armpit hair.” … UMass basketball fans are giddy that next year’s recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the A-10 by 247sports. That’s great, but until that talent gets here it means as much as signs over bars that say Free Beer Tomorrow.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com